双语灵修（葛培理牧师）：10月15日 神的加号

10月15日

神的加号

因为父喜欢叫一切的丰盛，在祂里面居住。既然藉着祂在十字架上所流的血，成就了和平，便藉着祂叫万有，无论是地上的，天上的，都与自己和好了。

歌罗西书1:19-20

成千上万的人都有罪疚感。几乎每个人都感觉自己有错，就像那个小男孩说的“我想，我生来就有错”。但神在十字架上说，“我爱你。”

祂还说：“我赦免你。”“赦免”是任何话语中最荣耀、最震撼人心的词汇。神赦免的根据在基督里。因为基督死了，神可以称罪人为义，并且仍然是公义的。

基督在十字架上的死不仅仅是一个殉道者的死，也不仅仅是为祂的同胞献上自己的生命，树立了一个榜样。祂的献祭是神所指定和命定的，是唯一的赎罪祭。圣经说：“耶和华使我们众人的罪孽都归在祂身上。……耶和华却定意将祂压伤，使祂受痛苦”（以赛亚书53:6,10）。因为神自己立了基督来遮盖人的罪，所以神不可能拒绝一个接受耶稣基督为救主的罪人。“神设立耶稣作挽回祭，是凭着耶稣的血”（罗马书3:25）。

这就是教会圣餐的意义。我们每次吃饼时，乃是记念基督的身体为我们被钉在十字架上；每次我们喝杯时，乃是记念基督在十字架上为我们的罪所流的血。一个小女孩看到圣餐桌上有一个十字架，就问：“妈妈，桌子上那个加号是做什么的？”十字架是神在历史上最伟大的加号。

今日祷告：

天父，我感谢祢赐下祢的儿子耶稣为我们而死，使我们与祢和好；奉耶稣的名，阿们。

October 15

GOD’S GREAT PLUS SIGN

For it pleased the Father that in him[Jesus]should all fullness dwell;and,having made peace through the blood of his cross,by him to reconcile all things unto himself…Colossians 1:19-20

Thousands of people suffer from guilt complexes.Almost everyone senses that somehow they are wrong,like the little boy who said,“I guess I was just born wrong.”God said from the Cross.“I love you.”

He was also saying,“I can forgive you.”The most glorious and thrilling word in any language is“forgiveness.”God in Christ had a basis for forgiveness.Because Christ died,God can justify the sinner and still be just.

Christ’s dying on the cross was more than the death of a martyr.It was more than His setting a good example by offering His life for His fellow man.His was the sacrifice that God had appointed and ordained to be the one and only sacrifice for sin.The Scripture says,“The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all…it pleased the Lord to bruise him;he hath put him to grief”(Isaiah 53:6,10).Because God Himself has set forth Christ to be the covering for human guilt,then God cannot possibly reject the sinner who accepts Jesus Christ as Savior.“Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood”(Romans 3:25).

This is what the communion table in the church is all about.Every time we eat the bread we are remembering the body of Christ nailed to the cross for us,and every time we drink the wine we are remembering the blood that was shed on the cross as a covering for our sins.A little girl,seeing a cross on the communion table,asked,“Mama,what is that plus sign doing on the table?”The cross is God’s great plus sign of history.

Pray for the Day:

Father,I thank You that You have given Your Son Jesus to die for us and to reconcile us to You;in Jesus’Name,Amen.